Virtually Virtue-less

“He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.” _Winston S. Churchill

Recently I was trying to identify the virtues of our times.  What is it that motivates and inspires us to act the way we’re acting?  What do kids get “spanked” for these days.  Of course, I know children don’t get “spanked” in these more tolerant and enlighten times (now there’s one of our major virtues—tolerance), but surely, they get put in time out or have their phones and tablets taken (Gasp!) for something.

It seems to me that the one thing that gets kids and all of us in trouble is when we don’t act responsibly. 

For example, when I was a teenager coming up the big three that were really frowned upon was “Drugs, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll.”  Participate in any of those and your parents, the pastor, your Sunday School teacher, City Hall, the Principle, the Sheriff, and God all rose up and declared you a menace to society. 

But now…that’s so blasé. 

Mr. Prudence and Mrs. Purity have been laid to rest.  All rise to celebrate personal freedom and tolerance. 

Of course, no man (or woman, or…whatever we are now days) is an island (of course, I guess we could identify as an island, but that’s another story); we do have to get alone with one another at some level, so the new virtue of our day is acting responsibly. 

Do what you want to do, when you want to do it, and with whom you want to do…just do it responsibly. 

I get it.

One of the things that marks sentient, living creatures is their ability to respond.

So, it is not too hard to connect the dots on our actions.  If we are going to have sex with people, if we are going to drink, take drugs, play our Rock-n-Roll, or anything else we want to do, that’s fine…just be responsible about it. (Or as a dear friend would say, “Just be responsible abite it!”) Do that and you get to keep your mobile phone and tablet and there’s no time out. 

Wow!  Not a bad deal.  Let the good times roll!

There’s just one thing…well two things…that worries me…

If I am to act responsibly, who defines what is “responsible”?

And then, (and this really is troublesome), who am I ultimately responsible too?

The ONE THING for today: What if this universe, as well as you and me, is not an accident.  What if we were created…and the reason we can respond is that we were created for a purpose and one day we will give an account to that Creator for how well we responded to that purpose.     

Now that is a good place to start when deciding what to do and which virtues will guide you.

And I’m betting there’s more at stake than time out.